Molecular orbitals determine stability

The results could also help industry to optimise the stability of coordination polymers

14-Feb-2024 - Carboxylic acid dianions (fumarate, maleate and succinate) play a role in coordination chemistry and to some extent also in the biochemistry of body cells. An HZB team at BESSY II has now analysed their electronic structures using RIXS in combination with DFT simulations. The results provide ...

Green hydrogen: faster progress with modern X-ray sources

11-Oct-2022 - In order to produce green hydrogen, water can be split up via electrocatalysis, powered by renewable sources such as sun or wind. A review article in the journal Angewandte Chemie Int. Ed. shows how modern X-ray sources such as BESSY II can advance the development of suitable electrocatalysts. In ...

Water is more homogeneous than expected

22-Feb-2019 - In order to explain the known anomalies in water, some researchers assume that water consists of a mixture of two phases even under ambient conditions. However, new X-ray spectroscopic analyses at BESSY II, ESRF and Swiss Light Source show that this is not the case. At room temperature and normal ...

A new record at BESSY II: ten million ions in an ion trap cooled for the first time to 7.4 K

Magnetic ground states of dimeric nickel cations spectroscopically ascertained

30-Nov-2016 - Previously it was only possible to cool down about one thousand ions to 7.5 K using buffer gas. However, a thousand ions are not nearly enough for spectroscopic analyses. The ion trap with this new method provides a new opportunity to use cryogenic X-ray spectroscopy to study the magnetism and ...

Ferrous chemistry in aqueous solution unravelled

13-May-2016 - The team demonstrated how a detailed picture of the electronic states can be ascertained by systematically comparing all of the interactive electronic processes in a simple system of aqueous iron(II). If a blindman feels the leg of an elephant, he can conclude something about the animal. And ...

Breakthrough in X-Ray Nanospectroscopy

HZB researchers achieve X-ray spectroscopy at nanoscale spatial resolution

09-Dec-2011 - Researchers at Helmholtz Zentrum Berlin (HZB) have developed a new microscope for high spatial resolution X-ray spectroscopic studies. While conventional X-ray spectroscopy has so far fallen short of resolving single nanoparticles, the X-ray microscope at HZB’s synchrotron source BESSY II ...